You could practically hear the wailing and crying in the streets of “golden age of TV” advocates when director/showrunner Armando Iannucci left his hit HBO comedy Veep in order to make another film. Conversely, you could probably hear the ecstatic shouts and screaming from cinephiles everywhere that the master behind In the Loop would be returning to cinemas everywhere with something sure to be worth all the effort and struggle. And today, the trailer for that project dropped and it looks absolutely fucking delightful.
Oh, did we mention it’s a bleak comedy about the death of Joseph Stalin? We didn’t, did we?
Well, it’s not like the trailer for The Death of Stalin can’t speak for itself, now can it? Check it out:
There’s a lot here to be excited about, from the excellent casting (though it’s a shame James Gandolfini isn’t around to be in this) to the period trappings and all of the extra darkness they bring to the proceedings. It’s nice to see that Iannucci hasn’t compromised his particular comic voice at all in working with something set in a fraught historical period. And, boy, does Jason Isaacs just look great in this — that gag where he threatens Steve Buscemi’s character with imprisonment and his possible death all for a reaction is just brilliant. We’re quite excited for this one, and it’s sure to piss all the right people off.
Here’s a synopsis from the Youtube posting:
“The internal political landscape of 1950’s Soviet Russia takes on darkly comic form in a new film by Emmy award-winning and Oscar-nominated writer/director Armando Iannucci. In the days following Stalin’s collapse, his core team of ministers tussle for control; some want positive change in the Soviet Union, others have more sinister motives. Their one common trait? They’re all just desperately trying to remain alive. A film that combines comedy, drama, pathos and political manoeuvring, The Death of Stalin is a Quad and Main Journey production, directed by Armando Iannucci, and produced by Yann Zenou, Kevin Loader, Nicolas Duval Assakovsky, and Laurent Zeitoun. The script is written by Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin, with additional material by Peter Fellows.”
The Death of Stalin will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this September, and will be released by IFC Films later this year.
